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#1
08-07-2011, 02:06 PM
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Been Having Great Success with High-Rep Workouts
Lately I have been having tremendous success with high-rep workouts.
I started to get turned on to high-rep workouts, actually, because of my bad knees. I started doing 35-rep leg presses and still haven't hit a plateau. So I started to implement high-rep in upper body workouts and am getting past some plateaus where I was stuck a pretty long time. I have some theories about why high-rep can be so effective, but am interested to hear other perspectives. Any thoughts? 
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#2
08-08-2011, 09:44 AM
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Great to hear your nice results. It's very much all about variation. Eventually, you'll hit a plateau with your high-rep routine too. Simply switch back to very low reps with heavy weights for example and let the growth begin
 .There are endless variations. Let your body constantly adept to new stimuli. Peace
__________________
"Knowledge is the fuel. Training is the spark"
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#3
08-08-2011, 11:50 AM
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I plateaued at higher reps early in my lifting career (10-15 reps).
Switched to heavier weight lower reps for the last several years with great success, almost newbie-like. Now there were several reasons for that; increased dedication, increased knowledge of nutrition, etc. Now I use both consistently during the week. Basically, it is a DUP (daily undulated periodization) model. I like to think I am getting the best of both worlds. Making great progress. As to your question regarding theory. Well, I've always read that legs respond well to all types of rep ranges because they have fairly equal amounts of slow and fast twitch fibres. Also, I think the novelty of the stimulus is contributing. How often does anyone do a grueling 35 rep set? Not often, so chances are, when you do one, you are tapping into some growth potential that isn't typically tapped into. Specifically with the slow twitch fibres.
__________________
 James 1:16-17 ESV Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights With God's help...Mens sana in corpore sano
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#4
08-09-2011, 10:39 AM
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Quote:
One more thing about the high rep theory: it is said (I believe an ABC article?) that high reps increases your mitochondrial density. So the benefits of high reps is twofold: 1. Increasing mitochondria (= increased basal metabolism?) 2. More efficient energy consumption (read: postponing muscle failure) (3.) Probably increasing vascularisation of the muscle. (better pump)
__________________
"Knowledge is the fuel. Training is the spark"
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#5
08-12-2011, 01:24 AM
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My belief about why high-rep is so effective is two-fold:
1. You have lots of little muscles that really don't tget taxed in the lower rep sets. With high rep they are forced to engage more and you get greater overall development. Plus much of that is near/around the joints, giving better long-term injury management/prevention. 2. I believe with high-rep sets you obtain a natural occlusion effect. As the muscle gets pumped full of blood, the blood flow to the target area gets restricted. As the blood flow restricts so does the oxygen, forcing the fast-twitch fibers to work harder. You end up getting more reps in in that condition. Think about a 30-rep set where you are pumped up pretty good at rep 15. Now you get 15 reps in in a pumped state, with every rep occuring at a progressively bigger pump.
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#7
08-28-2011, 05:11 AM
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What type of success have you had? Size gains, strength gains, definition gains?
__________________
Nick Administrator, ABC Bodybuilding Journal of HYPERplasia Research "When your vision is powerful enough, everything else falls into place: how you live your life, your workouts, what friends you choose to hang out with, how you eat, what you do for fun. Vision is purpose, and when your purpose is clear so are your life choices. Vision creates faith and faith creates willpower. With faith there is no anxiety, no doubt - just absolute confidence." - Arnold Schwarzenegger
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#8
09-05-2011, 11:10 AM
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Mixed works best for me. I like to go heavy for the first 2-3 sets of an incline bench press for example, followed with a FOURTH set that consists of a drop set till failure or 4 minute Tabata Set. Those really force you to dig deep and are intense. I've never hit a plateau using them.
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#9
11-11-2011, 06:44 AM
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highreps are effective mainly for a few reasons.
1) proliferation of mitochondria 2)increased capilarization 3)sarcoplasmic hypertrophy 4)expasion of extracelluar matrix by the way, is there any other reasons? would be intrested to know. eg satellite cells stuff. thought i would like to ask, how long is ur usual workout volume in terms of sets and rest timings. i cant really decide on the volume for myself. would like to hear some advice.thanks very much.cheers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "if my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe in it, then i can achieve it"- Muhammed Ali.
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